The NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 GPU Review

[Adrian Wong]

Hello there, addictedtometh,

Originally Posted by addictedtometh

These numbers mean that the sideband and memory tweaks each represented 15 points on the aquamark GFX score, while the core tweak added 84 points. Well, thats fine except that (716-602) = (15+15+84). I have never seen any review were the result of individual tweaks so linearly equals that of all the tweaks together.

Now that you mention it, the numbers do really match up!

Originally Posted by addictedtometh

Can you guess what happened when he compared the average frame rates?

Average Frame Rate
Normal 5.77
Sideband 5.91
Memory 5.91
Core 6.54
Complete 6.82

(6.82-5.77)=(.14+.14+.77)

Another match. Wow....

Originally Posted by addictedtometh

Ok well if Aquamark happened to be so accuarate that it could linearly translate each individual score point almost directly into fps then we would not need any other benchmarking software. I don't really think thats the case. Then again I would hate to think that the author simply got a little lazy and didnt feel the necessity of runnig indivual aquamark tests after each tweak. That couldn't be it, could it

I find it quite amazing too. But guess what - those are the results!

I certainly spent hours benchmarking Aquamark3 and other benchmarks for this article. But if you do a lot of benchmarks yourself, you should know that it may be time consuming, but it's not hard. All I need to do is let it run and then record the results.

Personally, I feel creating results out of the air to be far more difficult than just running the benchmarks themselves. And if I were ever to modify or create benchmark results, you can be sure I wouldn't be quite so foolish as to create such coincidences.

In any case, I stand solidly behind my results and my integrity as a reviewer. My benchmark results are available for all to see. I'm sure there are many Go5200 users out there who can verify my results. If you have a Go5200 yourself, please do me a favour and just benchmark it and see if you can get similar scores.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by gegeto

Hi Adrain,
Nice review...
I have a vaio, with a gforce fx 5600 go... But i can't find the new forceware 53.03 for it...
Do you know Where i can find it????

Hello gegeto,

You can get the ForceWare 53.03 here - http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_53.03

But if you want to use 3DMark03, please use the 52.16 driver here - http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k__52.16.html

Hope that helps you some!

[eocicada]

Hello Adrian,

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

Incidentally, a notebook should not be selected merely based on its processor or GPU. There are many other functionality aspects to consider.

Yes, I know there are many factors to consider, and M30 certainly met most of my requirements (fast CPU, big RAM... etc, and cheap ). But my main goal is to buy a notebook with a descent GPU so I can do 3D programming on it.

BTW, I'm just wondering how did you get the benchmarks for other GPUs? Did you test it under the same environment? Like, you got notebooks with same CPU/BUS/RAM/ speed but different GPU? And didn't the vendors underclock their GPUs as well

Thanks

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by eocicada

Hello Adrian,

Yes, I know there are many factors to consider, and M30 certainly met most of my requirements (fast CPU, big RAM... etc, and cheap ). But my main goal is to buy a notebook with a descent GPU so I can do 3D programming on it.

BTW, I'm just wondering how did you get the benchmarks for other GPUs? Did you test it under the same environment? Like, you got notebooks with same CPU/BUS/RAM/ speed but different GPU? And didn't the vendors underclock their GPUs as well

Thanks

Hello eocicada,

Oh I see... You will require a better 3D GPU then, that's for sure!

Are you sure you require a notebook? I mean, perhaps you should consider a desktop solution? That would allow you to make use of much better desktop GPUs that would better serve your purpose of 3D programming anyway.

The GPUs in the comparison were all using the same CPU running at the same speed. The GPU and memory clock speeds were listed too so you can see what they actually ran at.

[GoyoNeuff]

First of all, what a great articles "Maxxing Out The GeForce Fx Go5200" and "The NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 GPU Review".
Is now on the market the Tecra M2 with DDR333 and nVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 with option of 32 or 64MB (depends how much are you willing to pay for). I'm interested to know how you guys thing this increase in memory up to 64, and faster RAM will improve graphics performance in this new Toshiba. I'm not a real game player, instead, I'm looking for a laptop with good 3D capabilities since I need it to run a CAD software to geological modeling called "GoCad".

Thx a lot!!

K.[/b]

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by GoyoNeuff

First of all, what a great articles "Maxxing Out The GeForce Fx Go5200" and "The NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 GPU Review".
Is now on the market the Tecra M2 with DDR333 and nVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 with option of 32 or 64MB (depends how much are you willing to pay for). I'm interested to know how you guys thing this increase in memory up to 64, and faster RAM will improve graphics performance in this new Toshiba. I'm not a real game player, instead, I'm looking for a laptop with good 3D capabilities since I need it to run a CAD software to geological modeling called "GoCad".

Thx a lot!!

K.[/b]

Hello GoyoNeuff!

You should opt for 64MB of graphics memory if you can. That should help in your rendering jobs. However, I must warn you that the Go5200 is a pretty weak GPU. Don't expect it to help much in the rendering, compared to the other GPUs.

If you can, opt for a notebook with a better 3D GPU. There are also mobile versions of the Quadro which should better suit your needs. However, I'm not sure which notebooks actually come with them.

[GoyoNeuff]

Thank you Adrian. Does somebody know where I can find laptops with Quadro GPU? Adrian, what about ATI 7500 32MB, or ATI 9000 32MB, are they any better than nVidia Go5200?
Thx a lot!!!
K.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by GoyoNeuff

Thank you Adrian. Does somebody know where I can find laptops with Quadro GPU? Adrian, what about ATI 7500 32MB, or ATI 9000 32MB, are they any better than nVidia Go5200?
Thx a lot!!!
K.

Hello GoyoNeuff,

Well, from what I can see, the ATI 9000 is faster than the Go5200. Even the ATI 7500 is faster at times than the Go5200. But you should definitely go for more graphics memory.

If you check NVIDIA's site for information on their Quadro FX Go mobile GPU - http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx_go.html, you will see a link on the left bar to the Dell Precision M60 workstation notebook. I guess that's the only notebook using the Quadro FX Go...

[GoyoNeuff]

Hi Adrian,
Thanks for you advice. I've looked to that link before, but you see, I'm a poor student and I don't have that money. I'm thiking in 1850 at the most, and that's really too expensive for me. I've checked IBM T41 that come with Pentium M 1.4 32 MB ATI 7500 (1500 +/-) and Pentium M 1.6 32 MB ATI 9000 (1850 +/-), and also Toshiba Tecra M2 P-M 1.4 32MB nVidia 5200 (1350) and Toshiba M2 P-m 1.7 64 MB nVidia 5200 (1870) The Dell w/Quadro is great, but too expensive! It's so bad that I cannot find any good AMD Laptop w/ great 3D GPU, I don't know why notebooks manufacturers don't make good 3D portable solutions with AMD. A AMD based machine is great, but it lacks of good 3D response. I can say, Fujitsu is doing a good effort with the S2020, but ATI Mobility RADEON IGP320M chipset isn't good enough for heavy graphics.
K.

[GoyoNeuff]

Hello Adrian,
Do you think that a nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 w/64MB will do better than an ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 w/64MB? On your test ATI beats up nVidia, but nVidia is only 32 against 64MB of ATI.
Thanks a lot!
K.